Ella does really swing

Incredibly swinging big band, brilliant arrangements and Ella's smooth, perfectionate singing makes this album surely one of the best Christmas albums ever. You can just enjoy the jazz, the Christmas songs, Ella's grooove or everything together, it works!

not necessarily a must-have

I hate to disagree with so many reviewers, but I definitely don't think this collection is worth owning. I am a huge Ella fan, and own almost all of the songbooks, but this collection doesn't seem to capture the magic of Ella's voice the way some of those other albums do. I bought it, thinking no Ella album could be disappointing, but I was unfortunately wrong. The recordings seem tossed off and don't allow her voice to be fully appreciated. I admit that I generally prefer Ella's ballads to the more up-tempo jazz numbers, so I may simply be biased against this collection. But I find that Christmas songs by Bing Crosby and Burl Ives work better and are more universally loved because the songs compliment their voices more.

If you must own everything Ella ever recorded, by all means, buy this album. But for the more casual Ella fan, I think that Ella's talents are wasted on most of these songs, so I recommend that you invest in one of her songbooks and a copy of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" instead.

One of the Best Holiday CDs Ever

Most years I kick myself because I forget to get out my Christmas CDs and listen to them. This year I remembered and ended up overdosing on Xmas music. Just when I thought I couldn't stand another Xmas song, I put on this CD again. It's such a great and fresh CD that I can listen to it over and over again, even after I'm burned out on Xmas music. It just has such a terrific, swinging, urbane sound. When she sings, "Hang your head down Rudy," in "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," I get tingles. It's the only Ella CD I have, but it makes me want to get more of her music. Highly recommended for people looking for jazzy Holiday music.